Unfortunately i'll be late to the party this time around. I just arrived in Japan today and i'll be staying here until after the new year live (which is in 3 weeks), so i can't play until the 10th of January.

So having gotten Chihaya to S rank here's some positives and negatives about the game.

DISCLAIMER: This is only based on what I experienced from the beginning to 1 idol solo route. This is NOT 100% of the game's content.

Positives

The unit system! You can actually use solo, duo, or trio to S rank! Coaching also has it split into these and quintet. However note 100% completion will need to use the other types.

Obtaining songs and costumes is much easier than PS! While some are harder to get than others it's more a matter of saving up money than RNG. Presents in this game are for fan letters and bonus items only.

I won't spoil how but the credits for this game was my favorite since the original game.

The time limited system brings more variety to the lives as well as some sense of time management. You also get related rewards. (for example clearing the halloween live gets you a halloween recolor)

DLC from Platinum Stars carrys over.

New costumes. I really liked some of the new costume designs in this game.

Another little thing but I loved the different burst animations.

It's also much easier to max a song's level compared to PS

You can unlock Master difficulty early on and the gameplay for Master is harder (from my experience)

Negatives

While the gameplay structure is great, I can't really say I can recommend it to people burned by PS. At least not right away. There aren't many new features added, but I found the few they did add made things much more enjoyable.

Not enough communications again! This is my biggest reason I have trouble giving the game glowing reviews. The day off commus were shockingly short (About 2-4 lines from Producer) and there's not really much more commus than in PS here. It's a shame as I did enjoy the ones they had even if short.

It takes a year to unlock the time limited lives. I nearly forgot about them until it was like "here they are". I get why as they're aimed at higher players mostly but they could have at least had the usual holidays during year 1.

The game seems to only have 6 DLC catalogs once again. Even including the PS carry over that's 12 catalogs, which is below average still. With the sped up release it also means support for the game may end quicker than last time if they don't do more afterwards.

While the gameplay structure is great, I can't really say I can recommend it to people burned by PS. At least not right away. There aren't many new features added, but I found the few they did add made things much more enjoyable.

Luckily I stop playing before I got burned out by PS. On another note anyone know where is the code for Producer Meeting 2018, planned to give it away since I won't use it.

Actually, the fun part is that if you think it's just an improved PS well... It's a significant bit closer to OfA than you'd think but most people don't check. Heck, I'd argue it's also got aspects of im@s PS3 in there too. Or some SP.

Let's say this. There's actual major plot points. One of them (it's the spoiler thread in question) most people haven't seen yet. You might suspect PART of it, but one part WILL catch you by the curve.

There's also a significant running storyline, but most people will miss that unless you try out the various non live options. It's not that far off the track but... if you focus on levelling your idol above all else, you won't see it for a long time.

There's also a STUPID amount of content interdispersed. If you can name it from im@s there's actually decent odds you can find it there, as a unlockable, unless the song is in catalog 1, or was already part of the PS DLC set.

I'll start off with one surprise - The original THE iDOLM@STER is in Stella Stage. So is 2nd Mix.

Weird when you consider that the original was retired FOR 2nd because of the move to second vision.

There's 35 trio/Quintet, and 2 medleys that are NOT DLC, and I suspect there's still some left I haven't found, and I've got ~70% of the game EX'd. The hard part is 'finding the live that has it as an unlock' although the CP grid has some as unlocks.

It's basically a spin on OfA but you have to explore the menus and do more than the 'Run a live, clear, run to next live' in the solo chain (even though that's actually the most inefficient way to play due to how Extreme Clears double all rewards gotten) because some events will only unlock if you EX clear events in the chain (as well as various unlockables)

It's the sort of slow play, but there IS an end in sight, and unlike PS, it's all dependant on you and your progress in the game. I've no idea how many items are in the game, cause I haven't done a count yet. Just say 'A lot' for the time being.

Let's say this. There's actual major plot points. One of them (it's the spoiler thread in question) most people haven't seen yet. You might suspect PART of it, but one part WILL catch you by the curve.

...

It's the sort of slow play, but there IS an end in sight, and unlike PS, it's all dependant on you and your progress in the game. I've no idea how many items are in the game, cause I haven't done a count yet. Just say 'A lot' for the time being.

Thank you for replying. I didn't mention the story as much as I should of as I had only gotten Chihaya to S and thought it wouldn't be fair to base all of the stories on that. I also wanted to keep Shika's plot point spoiler free as the game only just released.

As for my gameplay while I focused on Solo I did go back to earlier lives to EX Clear them for more CP to boost stats. I had planned on doing the other units and missons after that which I just reached.

I did notice some songs come out of seemingly nowhere, like Kiramekirari. I didn't know iDOLM@STER 1 was in there as I hadn't unlocked it yet.

I definitely think the game has plenty of content in pretty much everything but the communications, which is important to some people including myself. I didn't mean to say this game is just an improved PS, I just wasn't sure I could say with confidence that people who felt burned by PS would enjoy this game as much as One For All. It's possible the DLC could change things just like OFA was improved through free updates and it's DLC.

I'm still waiting for FedEx to deliver my copy (got delayed til after the holidays... yippee...) but out of curiosity, for all y'all that have the game already, how playable/friendly would you say it is for someone who is somewhat limited in their Japanese? Am I going to be doing alright with my fairly basic grasp of the language (as in OFA and PS), or am I going to be reaching for the pause button and frantically attempt to screenshot the dialogue before the boxes disappear so I can actually take a minute to read it because it'll screw things up if I answer wrong on a commu?

Mind you, gonna play and enjoy the heck out of it either way. Just curious is all.

If you've played PS, the items will be pretty much identical. The gameplay is much the same, and you'll have experience in setting up costumes (No skills attached to them this time though)

Live selection is similar, catergories, type, rewards listed.

If you played OFA, you'll find the CP map similar to the grid system, with cute chibi idols. Communications are mostly flavour and failing a communication will most likely be a 'Damn I wish I could do better' than anything else. You'll raise memory appeals just fine without it.

The depressed statuses don't affect things that much unless you're on an edge case score wise. You can run them to death by overworking, without much consequence. You'll get less presents I think, and a slight handicap to your score, but it's not much unless you're soloing (Then the penalty accumulatively hurts, because the math always assumes your other idols are at 100% for the appeal calculations.

You'll have to deal with resting. You can't drive everyone into a 48 week hell. Well, unless you want to.

If you've unlocked it on the coaching board, hit the right side of the touch pad while on the main P menu to open up the skills screen. Then hit △ to open up the burst skills. You can tab through and select the one you one for each type of stage. After selecting through there, it'll always activate for that performance type.

If you've unlocked it on the coaching board, hit the right side of the touch pad while on the main P menu to open up the skills screen. Then hit △ to open up the burst skills. You can tab through and select the one you one for each type of stage. After selecting through there, it'll always activate for that performance type.

Finally got to access duo burst. And also what the hell with kosmos,cosmos on debut difficulty it gives double the score I usually get from pro which is around 56,000 but debut kosmos,cosmos double it.

I did learn some interesting things while playing through Stella Stage (I've 100% and collected all the costumes/accessories), and they do contradict what I thought earlier, so apologies for the misinformation earlier:

- There IS a penalty for running any of the 13 idols down - if you run any one of them down far enough, you will be forced to skip the following week. This means that the penalty only really applies if you have a schedule to keep (Namely, hitting the 6 majors)

- There are events that won't list on the calendar - All the idols have their own special events, which are locked by Song/participants. Some will list (Haruka's will, as well Iori/Ami/Ritsuko) as they have items attached to them for (EX)clear. Others will not - Chihaya's special event (month 12, week 1) doesn't have anything attached to the event, apart from a nice CP boost.

I imagine there's others, but I haven't seen them.

- Do not use the trophy system to determine if you've found everything - you CAN platinum the game without finding all the costumes or accessories.

- What bursts you have available in Stage for You is determined by your game's CP grid for that idol - in short? If you want access to everything, start clearing that grid for every individual idol.